The advantage of having a little trouble hearing

When my ears don't work quite as well due to the last moments of this quick change-of-weather cold,I spend less time worrying about nuance and more time worrying about words.

The only thing I love about the flu--which I've avoided this time--is that sensation that everything I worried about when healthy is utterly irrelevant. All that matters--all that matters--is health, serenity, and perhaps enough wakefulness to get through a good novel.